time units in ferret & netcdf

[Joerg <joerg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi ferreter's
I have a question about the way I should handle monthly output for
ferret using netCDF as format of data storage. I need to save monthly
means from a model run. In the netCDF file I can specify the time
axis using
1. running months in the model run  1,2,3,4 ..... with unit month
2. months since the start of the model run with unit month
3. seconds of the middle of the month since a starting date with unit second
I'm not sure how much support I'll get from ferret or some other tools for
netcdf for the different possibilities.
I guess that from the pure time unit stand point 3. would be the best
solution. On the other hand if I wanted to calculate mean December
values over a couple of years, I guess this would get somewhat arkward....
Any ideas or experience greatly appreciated,
Thanks!
Joerg



--
Jörg Kaduk                           phone:  +1 (650) 325 1521 ext 416
Carnegie Institution of Washington   fax:    +1 (650) 325 6857
Department of Plant Biology
260 Panama Street                    e-mail: joerg@jasper.stanford.edu   
USA - Stanford, CA 94305